


between his ribs, behind his sternum

by trashsshi



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, One-Sided Baekhyun/Yixing, One-Sided Jongin/Baekhyun, Pining, Unrequited Love, this is such a cliche hanahaki au i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 11:57:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16892160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashsshi/pseuds/trashsshi
Summary: It's a prayer. It's a lie. It's a fact.





	between his ribs, behind his sternum

**Author's Note:**

> this is so unoriginal ;_; every cliche of hanahaki AUs ever is in here. oh well at least it's short

“We’re standing under the same rain,” says Baekhyun, voice dripping like a spent cloud. “It’s almost like we’re in love.”

Yixing smiles kindly. Emptily. His dimples bloom. Hollowly. Baekhyun shivers when he sees them, loves deeper, helpless. He knows he owns a part of Yixing, every time they bloom; he’s convinced he scoops out those hollows himself; that whatever he scoops he slips between his ribs, tucks behind his sternum, next to his wildly, helplessly beating heart. He’s convinced he holds pieces of Yixing, between his ribs, behind his sternum. He’s convinced he holds Yixing inside, permanently, pervasively, a deadly illness.

When Yixing walks away from him, he takes his umbrella with him. Baekhyun stands under the icy downpour, but it doesn’t awaken him. Jongin told him once, that Yixing loved inadequately, stole hearts like Baekhyun’s perfectly, but it didn’t awaken him. Baekhyun raises drenched, trembling fingers to his numb, frozen lips and presses. Jongin could appear in front of him right now, could kiss him here, now, in the rain, and nothing would thaw. Baekhyun wouldn’t give.

It’s not bad, standing in the rain alone. It’s cold, but he was already cold. It’s _right_. Baekhyun and Yixing can’t possibly stand under the same rain, as though they’re in love.

Baekhyun starts walking home. He feels directionless, the rain falling like thick sheets he can’t see through, but it’s fine. It’ll clear up eventually. The disease will clear up eventually. It’s a prayer. It’s a lie. It’s a fact. It has to. He doesn’t want it to.

At some point he has to stumble to the side of the road, pushing a palm to the low wall for some stability as he retches into the overflowing drain. The petals bleed into the currents as they’re carried away- or rather, his blood seeps away from them, leaving them translucently discoloured, like plucked-out eyelids. He shuts his eyes, takes deep breaths, tries to retreat into somewhere dark, quiet, safe. Tries to ignore the unfurling, withering flutter in his chest. He expects to see Yixing’s face fill his mind, expects to disappear into a hollow in Yixing’s cheek, but instead he flashes to Jongin. Opening a book, reading out to him melodiously. “You made flowers grow in my lungs, and although they are beautiful, I can’t breathe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Baekhyun's line about standing under the same rain, as though in love, was a line he said as fanservice during a concert when it was raining. I can't find the tweet with the clip and translation, though :(( if you know which clip I'm talking about I'd be grateful if you commented it!  
> Jongin's line that goes 'inadequately...perfectly' is from the lyrics of Yuna's 'Unrequited Love'.  
> The line Jongin reads out at the end is anonymous.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/trashsshi)//[curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/trashsshi)


End file.
